The Washington critic., 1887-02-14

and pepper the town later" Mr.. Smith
Is a frequenter of the Hotel Brunswick,
and was chum of the lady's husband
In his bachelor days. The wife sent
this note to Mr.. Smith: "The old wo'
man has returned. Although / have
never met you, have frequently heard
my husband speak OF you. ] shall be
happy to accept the invitation To the
theatre for him and myself" Mr..
Smith, not at all Disconnected, got
tickets for the Fifth Avenue, and now
says that his only regret Is that he re.
ferred to the bright young wife Of his
old friend as "ihc old woman"
srs
Mrs. Fremont, In her Souvenirs, y
thus speaks of the famous Dolly"
Madison: The tall, handsome old lady
In shabby old gowns of velvet or bro
cadc-nowiso altered from the fashion
of her days of power--was Mrs. Madl-
son. And in the Washington of my
younger day name and character out.
ranked appearances. No one ques-
toned her wearing these short wasted,
puff sleeved, gored velvet gowns, with
muslin neckerchief tucked into the
low waist Of the gown and little India
scarf Of lovely faded tones over 1t. A
wide and stiff quilting of net rose high
around her throat always--and, fear
me, little rouge and powder were also
In use TO cover times footsteps. The
bad taste of the day discouraged gray
hair, and Mrs. Madison's dark row of
curls was always surrounded by tur.
ban. And with all this she was hand.
some, majestic and simply digniiied.
and very agreeable, with memory
and kind words for every one.
-
In the effort TO get an appropriation
for clerks TO the Representatives the
attitude of the various members of the
House was worth studying. The older
members, snys the correspondent of the
Nal and Express, like Judge Kelley
and Ex-Governor Curtin, were strongly
In favor of 1t and not afraid to say so.
The younger members, whose tenure
on the public was more insecure,
wanted the clerks badly, but hadn't the
nerve to come out aud say so. Judge
hticJ suIl tull bul VI MS 'sD,VUD u
year he had to pay 5000 a year for cleri.
cal help, and that only relieved him of
the eletter.writing nuisance. Numberess
other duties outside of the House
which his constituents required he had
TO perform himself. The truth Is that
Senators and Representatives have q
mass Of correspondence thrown upon
them that is appalling. Now that post.
age Is next to nothing and constituents
are brought into closer relations
with their Representative, Con.
gressman's mail is prodigious. 1t
took two stenographers, to say
not ing of Mrs. Logan, who was the
best private secretary in Washington,
to dispose of Senator Logans mail.
Senator German is said to receive 100
letters q day during the session. Mr..
Randall has the largest mail of any
Representative. The real reform would
be 10 make small appropriation to pay
for clerks to Representatives but the
popular idea of reform Is just the other
way. A prominent Democratic mem.
ber of the House said the other day:
81 am supposed to be sent here to at.
tend to legislative duties. Now, find
1t impossible to devote more than three
hours of every day to my committee
work and House duties, and yet my
constituents elected me to stay at home
because they said didn't answer their
letters promptly enough !"